Heldalf

Heldalf
Hellion Artwork Human Artwork
Information
Appearance	Tales of Zestiria
Hometown	Rolance
Race	•Human (formerly) •Hellion (currently)
Occupation	•General of Rolance (formerly) •Lord of Calamity (currently)
Weapon	•Sword (formerly) •Claws (currently)
Japanese Voice Actor	Takayuki Sugou
English Voice Actor	Patrick Seitz
Character Designer	Miyuki Kobayashi

Heldalf (ヘルダルフ, Herudarufu^?) is the Lord of Calamity in Tales of Zestiria who serves as the primary antagonist and final boss of the game. Formerly a human named Georg Heldalf (ゲオルグ・ヘルダルフ, Georugu Herudarufu^?), he is now the most powerful hellion and only seeks to create more malevolence and hellions by initiating a war between Hyland and Rolance.

History

When Heldalf was human, he was a highly respected general in the Rolance army by the name of Georg Heldalf.

Due to its geographical position, Heldalf had his troops forcefully occupy the village of Camlann, which had been built by the Shepherd of the time, Shepherd Michael, to safeguard the leader of the Five Lords, Maotelus. Despite claiming that Rolance was protecting the village from Hyland, his presence was ill-received by the villagers, as his troops were only creating friction between Camlann and Hyland, and the general went so far as to station some of his men at Artorius' Throne, angering Maotelus whom resided there.

When soldiers from Hyland attacked the village, Heldalf took his troops and retreated, not wishing to lose any of his own men. Camlann fell as a result, and Maotelus became a hellion due to the high malevolence that formed in the area. In an act of vengeance, Michael sacrificed his own nephew to the hellionized Maotelus, inflicting a curse of eternal solitude on Heldalf, the man who cost him everything.

After Camlann, Heldalf's life fell apart. People began deserting him, and the Emperor, whom he had received favor from, dismissed him from the military. He became the subject of scorn, and so removed himself from everyone but his family. Soon after, his household became plagued with mysterious deaths, leaving none alive but Heldalf himself. Filled with despair, he attempted to take his own life numerous times, however the curse prevented his death, trapping him in a world of solitude. Eventually Heldalf cast himself to hellions, hoping for death once more, but still unable to receive it. It was then that Heldalf gave himself over to his despair and fully hellionized, becoming the Lord of Calamity.^[1] He then decided to end all sorrow by killing all humans and seraphim in the world.

On his journey he met the seraph, Symonne, who came to serve under him.

Heldalf is first seen in Glaivend Basin, turning the soldiers of both Hyland and Rolance into hellions, where he meets the new Shepherd, Sorey. Intrigued, Heldalf makes it his mission to mentally break Sorey and turn him into a hellion. He begins by overpowering the boy's domain with his own, temporarily affecting his Resonance, and cutting him off from his Seraphim allies.

Throughout the story, he can be encountered in various places, engulfing each entire area in malevolence.

During the climax, Heldalf stations himself within Artorius' Throne. There, he absorbs Zenrus, Sorey's and Mikleo's foster father, into his hand as a means to break the Shepherd. Sorey overcomes the trial, and puts an end to Zenrus' suffering. Heldalf then performs the armatus with Maotelus and becomes a powerful, dragon-like hellion. During the fight, Sorey uses all of his seraphim companions as Siegfried's bullets to sever Heldalf's link with Maotelus one by one. Sorey breaks the platform, separating himself from Rose, allowing the Shepherd and Lord of Calamity to battle alone. During the fight, Sorey and Heldalf both perform Lion's Howl, but Sorey performs a second one from his right hand, and sends Heldalf careening into the stone throne behind him.

Heldalf, having returned to his human form, watches as Sorey slowly walks up to him, warning the boy that though he avenged his comrades, a new Lord of Calamity will be born. To release Heldalf and Maotelus from the curse, Sorey kills the Lord of Calamity. In the end, Heldalf continues to despise the boy's resistance, and, upon his death, Sorey's seraphim comrades are released.

Appearance and Personality

Heldalf's hellion form resembles an anthropomorphic lion with a brown mane streaked with a darker shade, dark skin, purple claws, and a chain-like tail that ends in a dark purple mist. His ominous black coat hangs to the floor, and the fabric about his shoulders end in petal-like shapes trimmed with white. The coat opens over his chest, revealing an otherworldly purple mist at his core. A belt resembling a spine wraps horizontally around his back. His pants are dark black, and his boots, which resemble metallic cat claws, extend upwards over his knees.

Corrupted by the malevolence, he only seeks the destruction of humanity. Throughout his encounters, he intends to turn Sorey into a hellion, resorting to dirty tricks and underhanded tactics. However, this all stems from Heldalf's desire to be free from the curse of solitude placed upon him by Michael.

Fighting Style

As a hellion, Heldalf fights open-handed, and can use various elemental attacks. He can also use Karmic Stance as a counterattack to send his opponents flying. Heldalf possesses the arte Lion's Howl from his time as Georg, which is a secret technique belonging to the Platinum Knights, of which Georg was once captain, and can even use the mystic arte version called True Lion's Howl.

Armatized with Maotelus, Heldalf stays permanently on the side of the arena, unable to move around due to the sizes of himself and the platform. Heldalf uses his hands to slap the enemy away, or squish them against the ground. His able to use an altered version of Indignation, which is a charged arte that draws an elaborate crest in the air, unleashing a maelstrom of lightning that guarantees the party's defeat. However, if the party manages to deal enough damage while he is charging, Heldalf is stunned and open for Sorey to use a mystic arte that allows the current seraph he is currently armatized with to enter Siegfried and fire into Heldalf.

In Tales of the Rays, his arteset is reworked and altered, coined on the term Jakki (惹起^?, "Provocation"). Interestingly, in the code of Tales of Zestiria itself, there are voice clips for these very artes, despite him not using them.

Other Appearances

Tales of Zestiria the X

In Tales of Zestiria the X, Heldalf's role in starting the Age of Chaos is slightly different. General Heldalf had earned the trust of Shepherd Michael, who went so far as to bring him to Artorius' Throne to meet Maotelus, and was entrusted with keeping Camlann safe. Heldalf, however, had been deceiving Michael, and instead used Camlann as bait for the Hyland soldiers, effectively ambushing them and turning the village into a war zone. Michael pleaded with him to aid in rescuing the survivors, but Heldalf refused, condemning Camlann to its destruction.

By the end of the anime, Sorey follows Heldalf to the Northern Lands where the hellion had begun to amass a terrible amount of malevolence, enough to destroy the world. He makes his base within Mount Killaraus in order to utilize its earth pulse, and is met by Maotelus, who does battle with him. After trapping the seraph, Heldalf combats the Shepherd's team. During the battle, Sorey realizes that Heldalf's humanity is still intact deep down, as the reason he came to the Northern Lands was, in fact, to die alone, far away from others. The curse consumes Heldalf's mind, and he and the Shepherd do battle once more. Resolving to save Heldalf, who unconsciously continued to battle the malevolence inside of himself, and in order to save the world, Sorey opens a passage into the earth pulse and seals himself within it alongside the Lord of Calamity, where he hopes to one day purify his enemy.

An unknown amount of time later, Sorey successfully purifies Heldalf and the two are freed from the earth pulse. Heldalf then begins a new life in a faraway town.

Tales of Asteria

The Crystal That Sleeps in Avalon

Heldalf is the main antagonist in "The Crystal That Sleeps in Avalon" chapter of Tales of Asteria. He uses the Saphia to cloak the world in miasma. However, Ruca Milda intervened in his plan to do so.

Tales of the Rays: Last Cradle

In Tales of the Rays, Heldalf was exoflected into Tir Na Nog from before he turned into a hellion. However, he is forcefully transformed into one by Artorius Collbrande, a Shepherd from the past. In addition, Artorius forces Heldalf to armatize with Symonne, as a source of sustenance to awaken Innominat.

Eventually, he is rescued by Sorey. Not wanting his tormentor to have the last laugh, Heldalf tells Sorey to purify him, which he succeeds with Phantom's help. However, Heldalf was guaranteed to die from the abuse he suffered.

Trivia

• A running gag throughout the English-language version of Tales of Zestiria is for certain seraphim, mainly Edna, to refer to Heldalf as "Kittybeard".
• Upon clearing Hexen Isle, Helfald in the beginning of the final battle is replaced with Despot Heldalf (真顕ヘルダルフ, Masaaki Herudarufu^?), an even stronger variant that is resistant to all manner of attacks.
• Interestingly, in the code of the game, Heldalf has voice lines for various seraphic artes, such as Air Pressure, Aqua Serpent, Freeze Lancer, Guard Decay, Radiant Heat, Horizon Storm, Imbuement, Mindflayer, Rock Trigger, and Violet Storm, despite him not using them in his boss fights, likely to prevent him from being too difficult to defeat.

Notes and References